#dragko

The sand was getting in his flip-flops.

With every step across the beach, the hot grit was getting under his heels and between his toes, with the occasional twig or broken shell digging into his sensitive skin and causing him to curse.

"Whoa, that's a harsh one from you Dr. D.," Shego said.

Drakken could hear the smirk in her voice as she followed after him. True, the words he was mumbling were more intense than his usual 'doodles' but given the circumstances he felt they were warranted.

"Why did we even come to this party," he grumbled as he stalked toward where they'd parked the hovercar.

"Because you wanted to humiliate Dementor."

Drakken stopped and whirled around, his hands on his hips. It would have been a menacing pose if not for the Snowman Hank swim trunks he was wearing and the slight paunch of his belly hanging over the waistband as he leaned forward.

"You knew this would happen, didn't you. And you still made us come!"

"You made me sit through that five hour lecture at MIST."

"You were supposed to be there to watch me heckle James Possible!"

"And then he didn't show."

"Hmph," Drakken grumped, turning around to continue the trek to the parking lot. "You'd think he'd have more respect for someone who saved the world."

"You need to relax Dr. D. So going to Dementor's retirement party was a bad idea…"

They reached the hovercar and Drakken grumbled as he kicked his flip-flops off onto the floorboards. The tips of his ears were flushed purple with his annoyance and his eyes were dark with rage. Shego suppressed a giggle.

She climbed in the passenger seat next to him as he started the ignition, but…nothing happened.

"Oh, great! The engine is overheated!" Drakken groused, throwing his hands up.

Shego bit her lip as she got a devious idea.

"Well, since we're not going anywhere, how about I help you relax?" she said, sidling closer.

"What…? Shego, no! Not here!"

Drakken's eyes had widened and his hands were batting at hers as she pulled at the waistband of his swim trunks. When he grabbed her wrist to stop her she lifted her hand and ignited it in threat. He continued grumbling and crossed his arms, looking around nervously as she slid down to sit on the floor of the passenger seat and rested her arm across his lap so she could get her face closer.

"Someone's going to see this," Drakken said nervously.

"Just put on your sunglasses and relax. Anyone who comes by will think you're taking a nap."

"In ninety-six degree heat!? Onh…"

His thoughts were arrested as Shego's lips made contact. This heat was entirely different on his soft skin, and after a few moments of anxiously glancing around he reached down to pull his trunks lower. He did put his sunglasses on, and then set to watch her furtively, setting one hand gently at the back of her head and weaving his fingers into her hair. It was damp, yet hot from the sun, and he fidgeted nervously with the strands as she began to sweep his mind away with her touch.

Her lips were like velvet on his skin as she placed tiny, suckling kisses along the blue length right down to his lavender tip. He could feel the rush of blood in moments, and it nearly doubled when she glanced up to give him a wicked look before she plopped his tip into her mouth.

"Mmmh…" she hummed deliriously, the same way she did when sucking on a strawberry. She knew exactly what it did to him, and his fingers tightened in her hair and on the side of the hovercar as she began sliding her mouth slowly down and up again, her teeth lightly grazing his sensitive flesh and her tongue pressing against him with precise pressure.

He kept glancing down at the rhythm of her face, mesmerized by the hot, soft sensations as his member vanished inside of her mouth, but his gaze was still drawn out to the beach beyond the parking lot. Casual beach goers were out of earshot by the water's edge, and further down he could just see the stage where Dementor was hosting his retirement party.

Drakken shook that thought away. He was not going to have Dementor anywhere near his mind while…this was going on. But it would still be good to keep one eye on the parking lot.

Suddenly Shego's lips left him.

"You gonna help me relax too or is this all about you?"

"Ngh… What do you want?"

Shego smirked. "You."

Drakken flushed. He needed to get a little harder first. But, a way to discreetly please her quickly occurred to him.

With a slight shudder he let the vine out of his back, and the strange mutation that seemed to act on his subconscious began wrapping itself around her waist. Shego's smirk faded slightly, but then she reached down and stroked the petals of the pink flower that was snaking up to her chest. It sent a shiver across Drakken's nervous system as she continued doing that, looking at him with eyes that simply screamed sex.

"You like that? Maybe you should let him out to play more often."

"Just…don't waste time. Someone could come by."

Shego chuckled and returned her lips to his twitching member. The flower had wandered up to Shego's neck and somehow, undid the tie of her bikini top. The green and black fabric fell away and Drakken watched curiously as the vine wound its way around the soft globe of one of her breasts, the pink petals seeming to rub at her nipple. His hand found the soft flesh of the other and he began kneading.

The moan that Shego responded with was slightly choked by his growing arousal inside her mouth. Their surroundings forgotten, he watched as her legs gradually began to tremble in pleasured response to his touch, and he wanted to give her more.

"Come here," he demanded. Her lips left him with a pop, and he watched her grin as the hard length bobbed back and forth until falling heavily to his stomach, glistening from her attentions.

"I should tie my suit back up," Shego said shakily, reaching for the strings, "in case anyone walks by they'll think I'm just sitting on your lap."

"No one would think that," Drakken said with a slight growl as he pulled her toward him impatiently.

Nevertheless she tied her top back up before moving to sit in his lap, facing the beach. She shifted back and rubbed her rear against his rod with a delighted chuckle, and Drakken growled again as she leaned back fully into his chest, preventing further action.

"We don't have all day!" he protested.

She chuckled again as she shifted up just enough to reach beneath her thighs and grab hold of him, guiding him up past her swimsuit briefs and into the petals of warmth that awaited him.

"Hnngh!" he groaned, his entire body tensing as he filled her. Shego for her part was gasping for breath, leaning against him again as she had taken every inch all at once. The vine, not to be left out, was coiled around Shego's waist and the flower was snaking between her legs. After a moment she responded instinctively, spreading them apart and giving the flower access. It began massaging her peak, and she bit her lip as a hiss escaped her lips.

"Like I said," Drakken breathed, "no one is going to think you're sitting in my lap."

Giving up on any sense of decorum, he wrapped his arms around her and covered her breasts with his hands, beginning to squeeze as she rolled and rocked her hips almost erratically in attempt to bring him in deeper.

Then she braced her hands against his knees to lift herself up just enough, and they both moaned in unison when she dropped herself back down heavily upon his sword.

"This…is a much better party," Shego gasped.

Drakken laughed huskily as his fingers rubbed back and forth over her clothed nipples, pinching lightly as she started them into an erotic rhythm.

A dirty word slipped from Drakken's lips, and Shego leaned her head back next to his and reaching up to grip his shoulders. Sweat was dripping down her temple, and when her lips found his she tasted of ocean salt.

"Someone…" he murmured into her lips between kisses, "is going to see us."

"You still care?" Shego asked.

Drakken's answer was only to grip her breasts possessively, causing her to moan and arch her back against his chest as she rode him heavily.

"I hope Dementor walks by."

"Really?" Shego gasped out.

"He never accomplished anything close to this in his career."

Shego laughed breathlessly, and Drakken kissed her again.

"Turn around," he said.

"That will just be more obvious," Shego said with a grin, already moving to comply.

Drakken shifted on the hovercar's seat to give her legs more space as she knelt over him. His swim trunks at his ankles now, and he nimbly untied her bikini top once more, a thrill running through him as it fell and her soft, green breasts were presented to him.

The vine was still snaking around Shego's waist, but Drakken gave it a light flick with his finger as his arms circled around her.

"That's enough from you," he scolded it, and it slowly slithered away back inside his body, a strange electricity racing over his nerve endings as it vanished.

This time it was he to grip the base of his arousal, pushing it past Shego's bikini bottoms as she pressed forward. It felt like he belonged there, buried deeply within her, and he leaned down to nip softly at her breasts in turn as she began pressing her hips against him, rubbing the peak of her arousal back and forth against his pubic bone.

He licked and suckled one nipple, his eyes on her face as she arched her back again and bit her lip to withhold the screams he knew she wanted to release.

"Drakken…" she managed as she ground her hips against his. It felt so good being engulfed by her, a belonging he couldn't find any other way.

He knew she was close as she suddenly fell forward into him, her hips rocking feverishly and her breasts pressing into his chest. He hugged her tightly and kissed her cheek as she rode herself closer and closer. And that knowledge of her pleasure with him was driving him quickly to his own end.

He hadn't realized he had closed his eyes, but then he opened them with some sudden instinct and saw at the edge of the parking lot none other than Dementor, frozen in place and jaw hanging open, ice chest on the ground where he must have dropped it.

"Drakken…Drakken…" Shego was gasping louder.

"Oh yes…say my name," he said, grinning evilly. He shifted on the hovercar's seat and grabbed her hips, drilling upward in time with her rhythm.

"Drakken!" she screamed, her fingernails digging into his back as she came undone atop him, squirming in her release while he didn't relent, determined to make her pleasure last.

He was thankful for the curtain of her hair that gave them some modesty, but it certainly couldn't disguise what was happening to any other eyes that may be watching. At the edge of the parking lot Drakken could see Dementor still utterly dumbstruck, his expression shocked and clearly the face of someone who hadn't gotten what Drakken was getting in a long time.

Drakken chuckled evilly and lifted one hand to flip Dementor the bird before he moved again, quickly but carefully lying Shego down on the hovercar's bench seat. His one-time rival in evil had had more than enough of a show, and definitely more than he deserved.

Shego was still reeling and breathless from her high, but Drakken wasn't done. She lifted legs and hooked her heels behind Drakken's back as he pumped into her deeply, his rhythm steady and strong.

The vine, seemingly acting on his subconscious once again, slipped out to press a button on the hovercar's control panel, activating the dome cover to finally hide them away from prying eyes. And then it moved to encircle Shego's wrists and bring them up above her head. She blinked up at him in surprise, but not with any protest, and he braced himself against the seat so he could reach up to entwine his fingers with hers.

As she regained her wits, her expression became devious again as they locked eyes, communication unspoken as she seemingly dared him onward. Her breasts were bouncing deliciously below him, the sight of them, the sight of Shego making his blood race. His thrusts increased in speed, and when he felt his release near the vine let go instinctively. Shego's hands moved to his rear and gripped the strong muscles tightly, pulling him deeper as he felt the white hot pleasure explode at his every nerve ending. He was aware of the heat, of the twitching, and of his weight falling to cover hers… Of a pleasure that seemed to melt his very being centering at their union.

His breaths came slow and heavy, and gradually he became aware of Shego's fingers in his hair while her other hand massaged the back of his thigh. Buried within her always seemed the most right place to be, and he was in no hurry to leave her.

"Thank you, Dumpling…" he finally said with a sigh. "You were right…I needed to relax."

He finally began to shift up, but Shego set a hand on his cheek and guided his lips to hers. When he pulled away from the silken touch her eyes held mischief.

"Oh, but I'm not done relaxing."

A grin spread across Drakken's face.

"…Since the hovercar isn't working, maybe we should…borrow Dementor's vehicle."

Things had only gotten worse since the interrogations by Global Justice and the police, inquiring into Sangerson's death.

Drakken had been offended that neither organization seemed to put any weight on the attack against his wife that had led to her accidentally killing Sangerson in self-defense. And when he had finally exploded at the authorities after their insinuation that she had acted deliberately, they had finally apologized. Or rather, offered the excuse that since no prison on Earth had ever been able to hold the former villainess, it seemed unbelievable that one average human, criminal though he was, had managed it.

On the bed, Shego suddenly lurched onto her side. Drakken's eyes widened and he made his presence known.

"Shego?" he asked in fear.

"Gonna throw up..." she mumbled as she held her stomach and her breaths became heavy.

Drakken grabbed the wastebasket and held it beneath her face where she had leaned over the edge of the bed. She recoiled only slightly, and then stared past him at the floor as she tried to steady herself. He watched as her breaths gradually began to slow, and then after about a minute she cautiously lay back on the bed. She set one hand over her abdomen again, but the other she placed on her forehead as she closed her eyes, her lips parted and her brow furrowed as she continued to struggle.

Drakken's heart was racing. She hadn't been physically sick in the days that had passed. It didn't make any sense... Except...

"Morning sickness?" he asked carefully.

"Maybe," she said softly, her eyes opening briefly as she considered. After a few seconds she closed them again, her voice falling to a whisper. "I think it's still too soon."

Drakken's heart sank in despair. She barely ate. She didn't go to work anymore (per his demand, she was on stress leave). She lay in bed for half the day more often than not, but never napped and could barely get a few hours of sleep at nights. Now she was getting ill.

As fearful as he was for her, he had an equally great fear for the new life that was growing inside her.

Drakken was a scientist. As soon as they had learned Shego was pregnant, he had started his research. He knew how important it was for mothers to have stress-free pregnancies in order for the healthy development of the baby. Especially in the earliest weeks.

He watched for another minute as her breathing gradually evened. She swallowed slowly, and he saw how dry her lips were. He glanced at the two nightstands and saw no cup indicating she'd had water that day. He looked back at her as she switched which hand was on her abdomen and which was on her forehead.

Drakken felt the fear begin to tighten his chest. He cleared his throat softly and then set his hand softly next to hers over her middle. But at the moment his fingers made contact, she startled slightly. His heart hurt even more. Despite the audible warning he'd given, she still hadn't been sure...

He looked at her face. Some of the worry lines in her forehead had faded. He hoped his touch was helpful... No, he knew it was. But she was still struggling a lot more with all that had happened than she had expected herself to. It made him wonder at times if she'd actually told him the entire truth of what had happened. He would then immediately remind himself she had no reason to lie. Unless to spare his feelings...

He went back and forth over it in his mind for several minutes. But as he had gotten the train of thought going, he suddenly found he couldn't shake it as he looked at her distressed face and listened to her shallow breaths. He pinched his eyes shut, furious with himself. But his lips moved anyway.

"Shego... Are you sure you...told me everything, about what happened? I mean...was there anything else you...should have told me?"

He wasn't sure about his phrasing. He didn't want to sound like he was accusing her of anything at all.

She looked just as confused as he felt. She studied him for a long moment trying to decipher his meaning, and then her eyes became a bit clouded.

"Did you...want to hear the details...?" She looked very reticent. He quickly shoook his head.

"No, I...I just..." He looked down. He looked up again. "I just want to help you. I don't know what to do, Shego... And I don't want to make you have to think about it. But I can't figure out what's wrong..."

Shego looked back at the ceiling. She gave him a brief, knowing glance. Yes, he knew that her nightmares were part of why she couldn't sleep anymore... But he was losing her in the daylight hours too. He was losing...all of her.

Her hand slid atop his on her abdomen and she laced their fingers together.

"Actually...that might help."

"What?" Drakken asked. Her cautious but hopeful eyes met his.

"Talking about it... Maybe then I won't think about it every time I close my eyes."

Drakken's breath caught. He...he didn't actually want to hear it. Just the thought.... Knowing that another man had touched his wife, was bad enough.

The hope began to fade from Shego's eyes. He tightened his fingers on hers.

"If you think it will help you..." he said quietly, his throat tight.

She gave him a grateful look, even though she appeared uncertain herself. Her other hand left her forehead and hugged herself across her chest.

"I remember pain when I came to, from the knockout stuff... He was digging his fingers into my hip, and yanking on my zipper. But he'd already broken it..."

Drakken watched a broad array of emotions play across her face as she recalled all of the details of the horrendous event. He knew his own face was a mirror of hers at times with the horror and fear of what she had endured as the tale drew out to be several minutes. But he also grew angrier as she began to confirm many of his assumptions. The thought crept into his mind again that if the vile criminal weren't already dead, Drakken would have killed him himself.

Suddenly, Shego squeezed his hand hard.

"Drakken."

He startled from his thoughts and felt the furious grimace on his face. He forced it away before meeting her eyes. She looked afraid, disturbed...sympathetic, and even hopeful.

"I'm going to be okay. Don't...don't be like that," she said, reaching her free hand to his cheek.

He mirrored her gesture and then let his hand come to rest on her shoulder as his face fell.

"But you're not okay..." he whispered. "You're not getting better. You can't even sleep..."

Fear of losing her suddenly assaulted him like an enveloping darkness. He sank down to sit on his heels next to the bed, closing his eyes against the dreadful sensation. Every moment of every day, she seemed to be slipping away from him. And he didn't know how to bring her back.

He carelessly brought her held hand to his lips and kissed her fingers as his mind continued to race. She was his entire world... He could have only her and nothing else, and he would still feel he had everything... And he was losing her.

"Do that again?"

He opened his eyes to the sound of her quiet voice and looked at her in question.

"Kiss me."

He brought her fingers to his lips and kissed them long and slow, feeling the strength in her bones while his eyes never left hers. A yearning and a desperation was building behind her dark gaze, and a moment later her hand was behind his neck, gently pulling him to her.

He met the warmth of her lips in a soft caress, pouring love through the tender touch until they both needed to come up for air. Drakken gasped softly, breathlessly, and stared at her. The hopeful look in her eyes had faded, and she was looking past him, away at a point in the room.

"I think I know what would help..." she murmured.

Drakken's brow rose. If she thought something would help, why did she look so...?

"I think..." she said hesitantly, "if we made love... But..."

"I don't think I can," Drakken blurted out. A moment later, he blinked as he realized Shego had said the exact same words in unison with him.

It wasn't even a question in his mind. Of course she couldn't, how could she possibly want to with the dreaded memories so fresh and their pain still affecting her?

Shego was shifting over, and Drakken crawled up onto the bed to lay next to her, leaning up on his side as she continued to speak, staring wide-eyed at the ceiling again as she usually did throughout the days.

"I don't feel like me anymore. I feel like...like part of me was stolen. Except...somehow, it was part of me that...that wasn't really me. It was you," she said, turning her worried eyes to his again. "I know that doesn't make any sense..."

Drakken watched her as he tried to process her meaning. It was undeniably true that there was something special and transcendent about...being one with her. He wondered not for the first time if that was something normal between couples, or unique to them. He'd only been with Shego, so he had no basis for comparison. But it was unquestionably, the greatest feeling on Earth.

"It...makes sense..." he said slowly.

And it did. Because he had repeatedly and angrily had the thought that she had been stolen from him; that something rightfully only his had been forcibly removed, torn out with a dagger and leaving her with jagged bleeding wounds that no medicine knew how to heal. Except that the wounds were also in him somehow.

When he considered his own pain, it was always followed with the very primal thought that he needed to reclaim her; that although the other man had only gone so far and that his actions were hated, Drakken still needed to take his woman back in a very physical way, proving that he had the only right to her.

It was a strange thought that slightly disturbed him if he thought about it for too long. But now, looking at the desperation in Shego's eyes... Somehow and inexplicably...it seemed to be exactly what was needed. And she felt the same way.

"But...I can't," Shego said quietly, her gaze becoming half-lidded as she stared sadly at the ceiling.

Drakken kissed her cheek. "Neither can I," he said with understanding.

Shego took a breath and her lips parted, but after a long moment she let the air go in a wordless exhale. Drakken watched as her eyes began to take on the same worried expression they had held for over a week now. His heart sank.

She suddenly looked at him. "I think talking about it helped," she said quietly.

Drakken's brow rose. "It did?"

Shego nodded, and then her gaze returned to the ceiling.

Drakken sighed, although his chest felt slightly less tight. That was at least a tiny move in the right direction. But would it be enough?

As the familiar fear of losing her came over him, he lay down and slowly pressed himself closer to her, releasing her hand and draping his arm over her and holding her gently. He closed his eyes as he felt her begin to relax against him. That was one constant that always helped soothe his fears. He could only hope it had the safe effect on her.

"Try to sleep, please Shego," he said softly.

He felt her sigh, and he barely moved or said another word as several minutes passed. But finally, he felt her breathing even out. He waited another several minutes before carefully removing his arm and moving away from her warmth. He didn't want to leave her, but he needed to get back to work.

As he crept away from the bed and out of the room, he missed Shego's eyes staring after him in silent desperation.

---------------

Over the next few days, Drakken was saddened to find that not much had changed. If talking through the ordeal had helped her, there was no outward evidence of it. The only thing he noticed that was different was that Shego seemed to be watching him more, rather than staring away at nothing.

If he was moving around in the bedroom, she was watching him. When he was cooking and when they had their meals, she watched him. And she even sat in the den more often and watched him working.

He didn't have to wonder what it meant for long, as at the end of the third day when he had entered the bedroom after finishing his work for the night, Shego was sitting up in bed waiting for him. She was wearing a lacy, sky-blue nightdress that was designed to entice.

"I need you!" she blurted out with quiet urgency before he had finished closing the door behind him.

He paused and stared at her, his mind immediately racing through the various things he thought may go wrong with that particular endeavor.

"Are you sure?" he asked cautiously. He couldn't bear the thought of further traumatizing her by unknowingly...touching her a certain way, or saying the wrong words in the wrong tone, or something.

"Yes," she said almost anxiously. She leaned back on her elbows in the bed, bending her knees and pointing her toes. The pose was sultry and alluring. But her eyes were worried.

He approached the bed anyway, not willing to deny her anything that might help by that point. It had been over two weeks now. He was so worried for her, and the baby...

When he sat down and scooted nearer to her, her arms were already outstretched. She grabbed his shoulders and pulled him down before he had even gotten his feet off the floor, and began kissing him. Drakken answered her touch and was surprised at how quickly she began untucking his shirt and undoing his buttons.

The familiar touch of her hands was like salve on a wound. But that feeling instantly brought confusion. It wasn't supposed to be about him feeling better. It was supposed to be about healing her scars.

That thought threw his mind into clinical mode, and as he kissed her he became less aware of her hands pulling off his clothing and her lips meeting his adoringly. He was too busy wondering exactly what he was supposed to do in order to most safely accomplish the goal.

"What's wrong?" Shego asked, her lips finally releasing his and her head falling back to the pillow. She looked confused and concerned.

"What do you mean?" Drakken asked as he sat up and finished pulling off his shirts.

"You're not... You don't seem very..." she paused and looked him over as he kicked off his shoes slid out of his pants, "interested."

Drakken looked at her uncertain expression. He didn't need to look at his crotch to know nothing was happening there. He realized that the way he had been thinking, he was never going to be able to get focused enough.

"Sorry, I was...I was just worrying," he said honestly, leaning over her to kiss her again.

He tried to focus on what he was supposed to feel. The touch of her lips meeting his so perfectly, her hands running up his arms and holding his shoulders, and her knee pushing between his legs and trying to move him closer to her.

None of it was helping. He'd been stuck so long in a state of concern, that he was barely affected by her attentions. He sighed in frustration and sat up again, his brow furrowing. Shego looked at him in confusion and sadness.

"Hold on..." he said, looking down at her and starting to let his eyes roam over her body.

"Do you...not want to?" Shego asked, a hurt and even more worried look coming into her eyes.

"No, no I just...sorry, give me a second," he said, letting his eyes take in every inch of her.

He looked at her feet, and the perfect symmetry of her shapely legs. He looked at the way the hem of the short, lacey nightdress fell over her thighs at just the right spot to entice, but still left everything to the imagination.

As his eyes continued upward his goal of arousal was interrupted again by the memory of bruises on her skin. His gaze fixed on her clothed hip, where he had seen the dark bruises in the pattern of fingerprints weeks ago. Where her attacker had simply taken out his fury at not being able to do worse to her. It made Drakken's heart beat harder.

The uncomfortable, primal desire he'd been having to reclaim her started to return. He latched onto that feeling and forced it to grow by recalling the horrid memories she'd shared with him of her experience. Of words spoken that were nothing but hate, and of violating touches of hands and lips.

It made him angry. She was his wife. His only. No one else had the right. And the recollection of her descriptions was indeed starting to stir something in him that he could only describe as territorial. He needed to reclaim her as his own. And that thought was finally building his arousal.

"Drakken?"

He brought his eyes up to her face and he was instantly shaken out of his thoughts. Shego looked...afraid.

"What's wrong?" she asked, leaning away from him slightly. Her voice was thin.

He shifted toward her, beginning to comprehend his mistake, and with the movement caught a glimpse of his reflection in their vanity mirror. He met his own gaze and saw the cold anger he had allowed to build, mixed in with an almost blind determination... And then seeing the confused and frightened look on his wife's face...still trusting, despite how he looked...

"I..." He turned back to her, forcing everything he had been thinking out of his mind. "I'm sorry. I was...thinking about what happened, since I was having trouble..." he said with a gesture. "But when I think about everything, I get angry, and it...it makes me want to..."

He paused and frowned at himself. Would she like the words that had been running through his mind? Thoughts of claiming her, possessing her, and making her his again? Even though she'd not really been taken from him...

He saw Shego shift away again and his eyes snapped back to focus on hers. She wasn't happy.

"You have to...be angry to...?" she asked. Her gaze darkened and she looked past him with the worried and fearful stare he'd become accustomed to seeing on her. "I don't...want you angry."

Drakken reached out for her, desperate to erase the last few moments and apologize. But Shego lay down and turned away from him, curling in on herself.

"I need you," she said quietly.

The sound of her sniffling was what brought the lump to Drakken's own throat. He slowly lay down and cautiously set his hand on her bare shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Shego. I'm so sorry."

Her hand reached back and grabbed his, and he took it as a sign that it was okay to be closer. He slowly curled up against her back. And when he felt her frame shaking with silent cries she was struggling to control, he couldn't stop tears from coming to his eyes.

"I'm so sorry..." he repeated, putting his arm around her and pulling her close. He was relieved that she leaned into him, rather than pulling away like he feared.

"Can't..." Shego said tearfully, "can't you...just love me?"

Drakken's heart broke at her words. He held her tighter as he silently cried into her hair.

He realized then that the horrible things she had endured wasn't something either of them could just get over. The sordid incident was something they would both have to heal from and work through. And probably for a long time.

He also realized that she had been right about him that night everything had happened. He was bottling it up, just as she'd thought. He was trying to be strong for her. But he was just getting weaker for the both of them.

"Can't you just love me?"

Her sad, desperate words resonated in his mind. Couldn't he?

He thought of the way she had first kissed him when he sat down on the bed minutes ago. The way her lips had poured adoration and desire into every touch, and the way her hands had spoke of yearning and need as she had embraced him and tried to pull off his clothing.

She...'just loved' him. And in those moments she hadn't appeared worried about memories or pain, the way he was. She trusted him. She trusted his love. And he had very nearly violated it.

He scowled at himself for a moment before shaking it away and focusing again on what she wasn't saying explicitly, but what was implied. She trusted him to heal her mental and emotional scars. She wanted him to. And he didn't need to worry in excess about being careful as long as...all he did, was...

"Yes I can," he said aloud into her hair.

"What?" Shego murmured, sniffling again.

Drakken leaned back and gently pushed her shoulder until she lie down, looking up into his eyes. He rubbed his face to get the tears away and then gently used the back of one knuckle to dab at hers.

"I can...just love you."

Her brow rose slightly, and her eyes remained uncertain. Drakken ignored the fresh damage he had caused in favor of sitting up, taking her hand, and kissing it.

He kissed the back of her hand, and along the length of each of her fingers. His caresses were slow and lingering, giving attention to every joint and muscle and inch of lovely green skin. He turned her hand over and gave the same attention to her palm.

Instead of worrying about what she may not want, he thought of how lucky he was to have her. How lucky he was that she had chosen him, when she could have had her pick of men. And that her choosing him was the result of nothing less than a deep, passionate love she had expressed to him from their first kiss, to the simple gestures she made for him throughout each day.

"It's all I've ever wanted..." he murmured absently, only realizing he'd spoken the thought aloud when he felt Shego shift nearer to him.

As he kissed her wrist he looked up into her eyes, and he saw that the worry was fading. He continued his attentions, kissing the soft, pale skin on the inside of her forearm, and then gently turning her arm to kiss the slightly rougher skin at her elbow.

"You're beautiful," he said shakily, smiling down at her as he continued the rain of kisses over her flawless green skin. It might be too late that afternoon to redeem the precious moment of normalcy she had initiated, but he would try as long as she let him.

She pulled her arm out of his grasp and looped it around his neck, pulling him down to kiss her lips. Again her touch was nothing but loving, and full of need. It fueled his desire, and also his determination to demonstrate what he had failed to do before. He loved her with all that he was, and he wasn't going to let her have any doubt that love was the only reason he was in their bed preparing to ravish her.

He leaned away and out of the grasp of her fingers, despite the small whimper she gave, and he moved to sit up between her legs. He picked up one of her feet and set it atop his shoulder and then turned his head to kiss her ankle. She smelled of fresh apples, the scent of her soap, and he knew she had just come from the shower. He lifted her foot again and kissed its sole. The tiniest and briefest of giggles was the response, since she was ticklish there.

Drakken grinned, calm beginning to return, and he set her foot back on his shoulder and held it carefully with one hand so he could lean forward to kiss along her calf. His free hand began running up and down the inside of her thigh, massaging the firm flesh as his lips attended to the rest of her leg.

Shego's fingers wiggling into the elastic band that held his boxers at his waist broke his focus, and he paused and rested his cheek against her leg as he smiled at the happy and yearning look on her face. It was only the relief in her eyes that reminded him that all was not well, and there was more weight to his actions now than perhaps any of the other intimate times they had shared.

He set her leg down and moved to divest himself of his last article of clothing while she pushed herself to sit upright. She lifted her arms, and he gently pulled off her lacy blue nightgown. As soon as she was free, her arms went around him. Drakken had expected a kiss, but she instead she clung to him tightly and rested her head on his shoulder.

He held her close in response, his hands pushing her hair aside to feel the warmth of her back. He rested his cheek against her head as he slowly rubbed up and down her smooth skin. He hoped he was finally helping her... He hoped his foolishness of before, despite the insistent thoughts in his head, wouldn't further harm her.

His thumb and fingers massaged the base of her neck while his other hand traveled in long and slow broad strokes over her back. After several passes he boldly slid his hand down to grip her rear, and after another slow rub of her back he added kneading the softer flesh to the routine.

Shego sighed into his neck and relaxed heavily against him, her tight grip loosening to be merely firm as her fingers moved to clutch his shoulders. He was forced to shift as she suddenly snuggled nearer, bringing them as closely together as she could while they were sitting up, and then pressing her cheek to his.

Drakken wasn't sure how long they sat simply holding each other, but he spent the time forcing his mind to calm. Shego was safe, in his arms. Despite how she had been slipping away from him for days, somehow...she was finding her own way back to him. And all she wanted from him, and was eager to give, was love...

He turned his head to kiss her temple, and then continued to place small, soft kisses over her face. He felt her relax even further, and soon she was returning the kisses across his jaw and cheekbones. When their lips finally met, the passion was a familiar yet soothing fire. He focused on that sensation, and the desire for her that bloomed in his chest with the tender caress of her lips.

She still clung tightly to him, kissing him deeply as he finally lowered them down and reached back to tug the blankets over them. And then he braced himself on his elbows as he stretched out and settled comfortably to look into her eyes. The faintest hint of worry had returned, and he leaned down to kiss her neck and shoulders briefly as he wove his fingers into her hair.

"Okay?" Drakken asked softly, bringing his eyes back to hers.

Her response was to tighten her arms around him and kiss him with yearning, and he closed his eyes and placed his forehead against hers as he tentatively completed their union. He held back his instinctive moan of pleasure, but his eyes fluttered open when he heard her familiar, softer one. It was an assurance he needed, and with his fingers in her hair beside her face as he stared down at her, he made love to her with gentle slowness.

Of all people in the world, Shego had chosen him. The perfect woman had chosen him, and wanted him. It was with that immense feeling of gratitude that he poured love into her and hoped she knew how happy her love made him.

Yes, he could just love her. He would love her no matter what. It was all he ever wanted to do.

He only broke eye contact with her to blink or to kiss her, their noses touching briefly in between with each of their joint movements. He felt a thrill when she began to sigh softly with pleasure and responded to him with like passion. And as the minutes passed he watched the change take place in her eyes far faster than he'd expected. Her worry dissolved as she gazed back at him, her verdant eyes staring back into his and searching for love. With each passing moment, everything about her calmed, the remaining tension in her body vanishing and her gaze becoming adoring and grateful as he stared at her with all the love in his heart. When tears started to brighten her eyes he kissed them away, and her soft sighs grew slightly louder with her happiness. He was surprised to feel his own eyes stinging as they stared at one another, but he didn't care as he smiled both in relief and in their shared joy as their eyes communicated the answers they had both needed.

She was going to be fine. And as long as she was, so would he.

---------------

Drakken woke up with a start, but then relaxed with a deep sigh. He lay on his back, his arms surrounding his wife who was also on her back and half-atop him as she slept soundly. He wasn't sure what woke him, his heart still calming from the sudden change from deep sleep to staring at the early-evening light in the bedroom. But sudden realization caused his heart to leap again in a massive wash of relief.

The worry lines were gone from Shego's forehead. Her eyes weren't pinched shut in pain, and her mouth wasn't fixed into a permanent grimace. For the first time since that horrid day she looked to be at peace. And finally, she was asleep.

Drakken carefully tugged the blankets higher around them, and then settled back into the pillows as he watched the gentle rise and fall of her chest with her peaceful breaths.